Bengal means business and quite literally for the new BJP government. The saffron party had support of industrialists and voters who wanted industry in West Bengal to transform the state that desperately needed employment opportunities. The state was marred by anti-industry sentiments and the image of the erstwhile Trinamool Congress (TMC) government.
The Suvendu Adhikari government has promised several industrial projects and in five months of being in power, has embarked on foundation stone-laying ceremonies. Taking forward initiatives of the election manifesto, the saffron party wants to show that global and national investors are in their favour, to transform the state and take it back to its industrial legacy before the Left Front government came to power in 1977.
This week has been interesting with Adhikari visiting Mukesh Ambani’s residence in Mumbai on Monday for Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations. The auspicious occasion culminated into a meeting on plans for West Bengal. The CM says Ambani and his team are visiting the state in the coming week to invest in five sectors. On Thursday, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani laid the foundation stone for a 2,000-bed hospital in New Town area, of which 1,000 beds will be for low-cost treatments for patients. Adani Group will revive Kumartuli, the artisans hub for Goddess Durga idols and Writers Building, the 246-year-old powerhouse since the British era, passed on to future governments as the state secretariat. Gautam Adani said he wants West Bengal to be his Karma Bhoomi of the East, just like Mundra Port in Gujarat symbolised his Karma Bhoomi in the West.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Viksit Bharat vision for the country and the Gujarat model brings the Adani Group to West Bengal with a vision to invest ₹1 lakh crore in the state in ports, logistics, power generations, power transmutations and distributions, roads, bridges, rope ways, green cement as well as hyper scale data centres. Reiterating double engine sarkar efficiency is hope to voters who want industry in the state.
This brings us to the question whether this is really happening or a dream? For decades, Bengal has struggled to revive itself as an industrial destination and has failed to be at par with other states in the country. The Marxists ideology gave way to former CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya ushering in, the IT sector and inviting Tata Motors to set up the Nano car Plant in Singur and a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Nandigram. Anti-land acquisition protests gave TMC founder Mamata Banerjee a chance to rise to power in 2011. However, driving out Tata Motors was a high price to pay, with big investors, keeping away from West Bengal due to the perceived political hostility and trade unionism passed on to the TMC. This coupled with allegations of rampant extortion and the syndicate raj for 15 years. The present government has assured investors of strong policies like a single-window system, clearance at the top level for projects more than ₹100 crore, a helpline number to report extortion and a bi-monthly meeting of industrialists with the CM.
What happens to partymen on ground who have switched political affiliations from Left to TMC to BJP? An ideology does not change overnight and while the state can build on perception, on ground realities will unfold in months to come. At the end of the day, it is the party men on ground that feel the need to stay relevant at any cost. For the saffron party, keeping only the top brass and big ticket investors happy is not enough to hold ground in a state that is still new for them to govern. Politics goes beyond winning elections. It is also about keeping the party rank and file intact, which are lessons learnt the hard way for the Left and TMC who didn’t lose power merely because of anti-incumbency stemming from voter dissatisfaction, but also from disgruntlement of their own partymen.
